Page 63

Sixty-two

A WEEK LATER

“HEY , GUYS , ” Riley said, entering Deck’s house, her and Greyson’s arms overflowing with presents. “Present delivery number one.”

Deck smiled and shook his head. “She did it again,” he called into the next room.

A moment later, Andi and Christian appeared in the doorway.

Christian chuckled with a smile. “Of course she did.”

“Oh my word,” Andi said. “That’s a lot of presents. I think I underbought.”

“Nah. Riley is our Christmas elf. She loves giving others presents far more than getting her own.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Andi said.

“Except when it’s a sweater with a bird on it,” Deck murmured beneath his breath.

“Deckard Daniel, I heard that.” Riley pinned her gaze on him as she passed. “And it was one sweater, and I thought it looked nice on you.”

Deck looked at Andi and shook his head.

“And I saw that,” Riley said, her back to him.

“I knew she had eyes in the back of her head,” Deck said.

She smirked. She just knew her brothers very well.

“Drop them under the tree and come back,” Deck said. “Chili’s ready.”

“Yum.” She hurried into the living room and placed the gifts under the tree, instead of dropping them willy-nilly as Deck would. He still hadn’t warmed up to celebrating the Christmas season. They’d been deprived of it for so long that she suspected it still didn’t seem real or, rather, stable to him yet. Like he still anticipated it being ripped away again and was protecting his rugged, tender heart.

“Ready, luv?” Greyson asked, standing beside her after setting his armload of presents down and extending his hand. She placed her hand in his and stood still.

He arched a brow, studying her. “What’s wrong?”

“How do you know—” She shook her head. “Never mind.” The fact was he knew her well, nearly as well as she knew herself.

He caressed her hand. “Out with it, luv.”

She exhaled and her taut shoulders eased. It was time. Time to share her greatest fears. “First, this investigation. The shoot-out...” She bit her bottom lip but continued, needing to get the muck out in the open. “It reminded me of...”

He clasped her hand tighter, intertwining his fingers with hers. “Of the shooting with Pete?”

She nodded. “I know I had no choice but the nightmares of it replay through my mind. Other than not going there to begin with, I don’t know what else I could have done.”

“Because there was nothing else you could have done. It was either him or you.”

“I know that.”

“In your mind. You need to know it in your heart. To fully accept that was your only choice or you’d be...” He took a stiff inhale and cleared his throat.

She narrowed her eyes. “You okay?”

“Just the thought of how close I came to losing you... all of us nearly losing you...”

“But you didn’t.” She stepped closer to him.

He swallowed and his gaze softened. “I think my heart stopped when the news came in.”

She wrapped her hand around the back of his neck, running her fingers through his hair. “And you rushed to my side.” She smiled, warming at the thought. “Along with my brothers,” she added.

“Of course, we did.” His gaze still soft and warm, he moved closer. His face mere inches from hers, he leaned in to look her in the eye. “You had no choice. You have to stop torturing yourself and let this one go or it’ll eat you up as you continue to replay possible alternate outcomes when there were none.”

“I know you’re right. It was either him or me, but...”

“Surrender it to God, luv. Let Him work on the part of your heart that’s still wrestling with it.”

“You’re right.” She needed to go to her Savior with it all—the fear, the sorrow, the questioning. Only He could fully heal her. She trusted that without measure He’d meet her in that moment, in the place she dwelt, and He’d set her feet on the rock again—not on the shaky sand where she’d been standing ever since Pete.

Hope sprung in her heart that this would come to an end, and she’d be free to move forward, the heavy burden she’d insisted on carrying lifted from her shoulders—her soul.

She gazed into his beautiful eyes and smiled. “Thank you.”

He quirked a brow. “For?”

She moved her hand to cup his face. “For being you.”

Their gazes interlocked, the silence speaking volumes of the love emanating between them.

He tilted his head.

“What is it?”

He brushed her hair over her shoulder, inadvertently caressing the side of her neck in the process, giving her goose bumps.

“You started with first . So what’s second?”

“Oh. Just the whole tangled investigation.” Which seeing Big Max was part of.

“Well, you can rest easy in the knowledge that Ralph Masters is facing charges, and he’ll be locked away for a long time.”

“True.” Based on the charges filed against him. She took solace in that.

Sheriffs Pearlman and Gaines had paired up on the investigation and discovered the awful man’s real name—Trent Gregory. His cons and aliases went further back than they realized. The man was a chameleon, changing names and identities, his dark heart seeking to devour anyone he could profit from. Thankfully, Greyson was right, and he’d be going away for a long time.

She took a stiff inhale and released it.

Kelly and Jared were facing charges too, for robbery, but they were getting leniency for helping bring closure to many of the grieving families Ralph had hurt. Still, it looked like they’d serve some time. Riley struggled to see the friend she knew in the woman who’d been handcuffed and put in the back of a police car.

“I know she was your friend,” Grey said.

How did he always do that? Read her mind? “She was, but I wonder if that part of her life was all an act. If she was a chameleon too—playing a role until she and Jared got what they wanted.”

He rubbed her arms. “What they did was wrong. There’s no way around that, but they did it for altruistic reasons—to give money to Claire’s family.”

“That doesn’t make it right.”

“Not at all, but they aren’t the typical criminals just in it for themselves.”

“True.”

“This case has shades. Not just black and white. Outside of stealing being wrong, which is clear as day, the motives and layers to this case make the waters murky.”

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

“I didn’t know Kelly, and I am too.” He slipped his arms around her, resting his hands on the small of her back. “But we’ll let the courts handle their case and shift our focus to what comes next.”

“Which is?”

“This.” He lowered his lips oh-so-softly to hers.

———

Following a family supper, Greyson and Riley exited to the empty living room. She snuggled into him on the couch. He warmed at her touch and wrapped his arm around her as The Santa Clause played on Deck’s TV.

He chuckled as Tim Allen got sucked down the chimney pipe, but Riley tensed in his arms.

Odd. She’d been so relaxed before the movie started.

It happened again when Tim Allen went down the chimney and through the fireplace, stopping to fill the stockings.

He cocked his head. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

He tipped her chin up with his fingers, making her look up at him.

“We both know I know you far better than that.”

She pursed her lips and gave a deep sigh, then shifted one knee up to her chest. “It’s just, I love seeing the fireplace all decorated for Christmas and the stockings hanging on it.”

“But?” he nudged.

She shrugged, her lips pursing again. She hugged her knee tighter.

“We never got that.”

He frowned. “Got what?”

“Stockings,” she said, the words almost a whisper.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “That’s awful.” His dad had been horrible when it came to Christmas. But at least he’d had his loving mom and lots of Christmas traditions. He couldn’t imagine growing up with none.

“It wasn’t my parents’ type of thingto ... you know, parent in general. I mean, I love Christmas and celebrating it, but at the same time, it kind of sucks to have never gotten the surprise of Santa Claus or stockings waiting by the fire.”

He covered her hand with his. “I wish I had the power to go back and make it different for you.” He’d give practically anything to do so.

She gave a sorrow-tinged smile. “That would be nice, but it’s just the way things were.” She cast her gaze down.

“But”—he nudged her chin back up—“they aren’t that way anymore.”

“True.” She smiled, really smiled this time. “I have you this Christmas. I couldn’t ask for a better present.”

He nudged her nose with his. “You most certainly have me.”

“Certainly, huh?”

“You have all of me”—he pressed a kiss to her lips and nuzzled her nose—“for as long as you’ll have me.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. God showed me it’s still a daily choice of surrender and trust, but I see that now, thanks to you too.”

“Me?”

“Yes. Without your hope and faith in me ... I don’t know that I’d ever have found this joy.”

“Joy, huh?” She tickled him, and he tickled back, then he engulfed her in one fell swoop, sliding her onto his lap and kissing her with soft, slow tenderness.

“Ugh,” Deck grunted. “Again with the kissy stuff. I thought we decided you’d restrain yourself in front of Christian and me.”

She leaned her head over the back of the sofa. “You’re the one who came into the room.”

“Just restrain yourself when you’re near us, period,” Deck said. “We’re happy for you, we really are. But we don’t want to see that.”

“We’re together seventy-five percent of the time,” Ri said. “You’re going to see it sooner or later.”

“Let me live in my own little world. I’m still not there yet. I’m not a fan of surprises, and this one threw me for a massive loop.”

The doorbell rang, and Riley smiled. “You better get ready for another surprise.”

“Agghhh. Please tell me you didn’t hire a Christmasgram again? I don’t like people singing at me, and it was flat-out embarrassing at the office.”

“It’s not a Christmasgram, but I beg to differ. It was hilarious watching your face.”

“I got it,” Andi said, her heels clicking along the terra-cotta tiles in the foyer entrance. The door creaked open and all went silent.

Deckard frowned. “Who is it?” he called.

No answer.

“Andi?”

No answer.

He pulled his gun at their visitor’s silence and moved for the foyer.

Riley hopped up to follow him, pressing her lips together to simmer the smirk he knew was fighting to come out.

He rounded the arched adobe wall, slipping through the wide opening, then he stopped short. “Harper?” She looked nothing like the strong, driven woman he’d known. Instead she had the same haunting look in her eyes as Riley had after the shootout with Pete. And her frame was that of a slip.

She brushed her hair behind her ear.

Deck narrowed his eyes. Were her hands trembling?

“Hi, Deckard,” she said, her voice weak.

“You okay?” he asked, striding to her.

She swallowed, then nodded, but he wasn’t buying it.

“I thought your deployment was extended?” he asked, wondering why she was back so early and so bedraggled.

“I left early,” she managed, her poor lips cracked and scabbed.

“Oh?” He let his gaze track over her. Bruises covered her collarbone and her forearms, but he feared more were covered by her evergreen sweater.

She shuffled her feet. “Can I come in?”

“Right. Of course.” He stepped back, allowing her passage.

“Can I give you a welcome-home hug?”

“Of course.” Her words came out dry.

He wrapped his arms around her, and she stiffened. What on earth had happened?